AJ Barker quits Minnesota FB & obliterates Kill on way out

So many people are willing to take everything he said at face value. It may all be true, but no one knows shit. Jerry Kill could be an angel or the devil for all anyone knows, the rant of one person doesn't set the man's reputation in stone.

The kid clearly feels he had a bad relationship with Kill, leaving will be best for both sides. Putting it out there for the world to shows extremely poor judgement.

In the letter, he talks about how his parents raised him to be an honorable person. But airing a letter like this in public isn't honorable. Assuming it all happened the way he said it did, he should send the letter to Kill, and leave the team. 

On a positive note, he's got a ten page paper for that English class.

I understand that these things happen, but the right thing to do was to bow out gracefully and quietly.

"Signed,

Justin Boren"

Other than all the corrections of his misspellings.

Don't want to make a judgment about this without hearing both sides. I hope this kid transfers to Michigan though. Our student section needs some work!

So if you take it all at face value that's some pretty damning stuff for Kill.  Pressuring a kid to play when he's injured, publicly belittling him for wanting to get the truth on his injury, and criticizing his religious beliefs seem like things that are unacceptable from a head football coach.

Playing Kill's advocate for a minute though... the one thing that stands out about all this and makes it sound like whiny BS is when he claims to be the best / most effective receiver on the team (and even has a quote from his mom's friend that he's not only the best receiver, but the best player!).  This definitely hurts his credibility.  How many head coaches who want to win 1) treat their top players like dogs, so badly they are run off the team? 2) fail to give their top players a scholarship offer? or 3) fail to even start their top players?  If Kill is as narcissistic and self-interested as this kid would have us believe, I would assume, if Barker is so great, that Kill would have done everything in his power to keep him on the field and make him happy, so that the Gophers have the best chance of winning.  This sounds kind of like a kid who thinks his talent level is far higher than it actually is, and doesn't like dealing with criticism.  Unfortunately we'll probably never know the full story because we were never in the locker room or in practice.  That said we may get some anonymous bits either confirming or denying some of these events.

Also as a sidenote, I agree with the others on this board, wayyyyy too long.  Learn how to make your point in a concise way young man.  More words =/= better...

After reading through the whole thing, I think Jerry Kill belongs to a specific group of people. These people, when stuck in a rage, will say ANYTHING to the person in front of him. Their words will often hurt others because they are so insulting and beyond reasons. And they will not realize the damage it's done until someone told them or when it's way, way afterwards.

Now, if Kill actually said that Barker will never get a scholarship, then he definitely belongs to the very upper echelon of this group. I mean who say things like this reasonably? It's like a boss telling the best aspiring intern that s/he will never get the job no matter how hard you work and how well the job's done.

I love when people get butthurt about being downvoted (note, it wasnt me). But for real... it's the internet. Who cares. I barely post on here but as of late, all these people are whining and bitching like a bunch of kids in a world of warcraft forum. Just Stop It.

On a more related note. I had a college coach use similar tactics as Kill. In fact, this particular coach i'm reffering to is still coaching because he win's (not a Michigan coach, the sport was not football either). I'd be corfortable saying that 90% of the athletes on the team do not like this indivdual. He has numerous confrontations with his players and their parents every year. If you were not a starter or a very servicable backup, the chances of you playing all 4-5 years there slim to none. Even the kids that start for him disliked him.

The only reason he is still coaching and winning is because he is able to get the absolute BEST out of his starters by playing headgames, manipulation and installing fear in his players. This theory of coaching still works for some people. I see it less with younger coaches these days but it is still happening.

I don't blame A.J for wanting out but he went a little over board. This happens a lot more than he thinks.

I cannot belive how quick people are to jump on the kid. The disparaging comments about Barker remind me why I haven't posted on here in quite some time. I for one salute him for not just riding it out without having his heart in it and hope he find somewhere to play next year. 

Dear Fellow Gophers,

I wanted to let you know that I have a high ankle sprain and am distraught that I cannot compete at the level that I or the coaches would like. For personal reasons, I am considering transfering and leaving the University of Minnesota. It has been an honor to be with this team and the U of M. I wish my teammates success in their remaining games and I will be cheering them on loudly as I know you will be. I want to extend my gratitude to everyone who's helped me and encouraged me along the way and my heart still shines brightly as a Golden Gopher.

Finally, I wanted to thank you, the fans, for supporting me and my teammates through thick and through thin. Farewell and Go Gophers!

Signed,

AJ Barker

I think the fact he was a starter and their best WR, and then suddently leaves, gives this kid a lot of credibility. If you were that good and you were forced to leave, it has to be something B1G. This is something B1G if true.

Still need to be very hesitant with everything he says, and posting this online probably was not the best tactic...the story just got picked up by ESPN and this is going to cause a lot of clout and dust. I don't think this letter is going to help this kid transfer hopes...

And .... wow.  

Kill sounds like a manipulative a-hole.

 Kill was basically blaming the lack of the progress on Barker's ankle injury on Barker's supposed inflated ego ( a walk on with an inflated ego? Sorry not buying it).

Kill then did  the publicly berate / privately love manipulation tactic.   Which is just creepy.

Yes I realize things like this happen, coaches pressure players to play injured and what not, doesn't make it right.

it's very unwise for just about any college player to publicly rant about a coach if they have any asperations of playing elsewhere. The typical reaction of other coaching staffs will be "uh oh, this kid's a whiner and not a team player."

It's analagous to going into a job interview for a new job you'd really like and then criticizing your current or former employer to the prospective new boss. He or she will automatically place you in their circular file as a potential malcontent.

"I can’t wait until the end of the season because that would risk you building up a false reputation around me that could make me unattractive to any other football program." - from Barker's letter

I bristled at this a little bit. The tone of the letter might inadvertantly aid in doing the very thing he believes that Kill will do here, which is why these sorts of things are really better done in private behind a closed office door. Further, the P.S. almost seems condescending in a way, when he posts dictionary definitions of the things he accuses Kill of doing. Even if you have a legitimate problem, this might not be the most constructive forum or manner for it. 

That being said, I will be curious as to the official reply to this from Kill and Minnesota, as it is now quite public. To take what Barker says at face  value, you would definitely think that there are some substantial cultural issues with the program as well as some character issues with Jerry Kill. The fact that I read the whole thing meant, in my mind, that I am intrigued as to what actually did go on and if there are some issues at Minnesota. The presentation put me off a bit, but I wasn't exactly ready to dismiss everything Barker said at the same time. I would definitely be interested to see the other side, or if, in time, there are other players who leave with similar issues, which would point to a management issue. 

I stopped reading at " thank you for not giving me a scholarship." All I needed to know. This kid is a big wuss.

will be interesting to see which (if any) coach takes him in next year and is immediately branded "soft and the kind of guy that enables a bunch of whiny timeout kids" by his recruiting rivals in that conference.

There's nothing like publicly berating a guy for publicly berating you.  Way to rise above, AJ!

This sounds weird on both sides.  First, I'm surprised Minnesota is so lax about players getting MRIs if they're injured.  You'd think it would be SOP for an injured starter to get one.  Second, it's very strage that he was getting acupuncture treatment outside of the program, when presumably they have a pretty good medical staff on hand.  In any event, this probably shouldn't have been aired publicly.  The whole "I am willing to meet with you about this..." bit is particularly odd to read.  How is he going to take all this back?

I will say though that it does seem crazy that a guy who's caught 30 passes this year (seven of them for TDs) isn't on scholarship.  You'd think he would have earned it once he made the starting lineup.

This is just like Marcus Dupree vs. Barry Switzer, if Marcus Dupree had the internet.

Oh, and if Dupree was an over entitled walk-on and Switzer was a middling coach at a bottom feeder school.

My take is that the kid has a legitimate complaint, is hurt and frustrated, but didn't handle it in the best way. For what it's worth, I've been coaching at the high school level for most of my career, sent several D1 and numerous other athletes on to play the next level (basketball, mostly, some soccer), and this letter strikes me as authentic. Hurt kid, angry, not handling it well, but likely accurate about what went on. His attitude could not have helped. But from things coaches have said to me, how they act (not Beilein, who was super on the few occasions I met him), I can easily believe the accusations of the religious slurs/insults, homophobic remarks, belittling and manipulative tactics, etc.

Does this kid's dad by chance works as a commentator on espn?

Craig James's kid and everyone condemed Leach...until more of the story came out and then the James family started to look more and more like whiny douches.  It would not surprise me if this story had a similar arc.

Whiner. I'm sure Kill actually is an asshole, but a fucking Tumblr is probably not the best way to deal with the situation.

Someone get this kid a participation trophy asap!

Sounds like a self important d-bag.   He managed to slam his teammates and coaches in that note.   I like how he said that he loved beating the players he was better than.   Nice work.

He's the product of this generation which has little respect for authority and thinks they are the most important thing in the world.  I feel for coaches that have to try and break this mentality all these"good parents" instilled in their kids.

Shut up you cry baby and support your team.

Funny that AJ claims that Jerry mentioned how he has saved "problematic players in the past (calling out by name: Bart Scott, Brandon Jacobs, and even my teammate Michael Carter). . ." The same Bart Scott that got into a fight with the defensive coordinator at Southern Illinois, which led to the entire football staff being fired and Jerry Kill being hired. Sounds like the AD agreed that the staff was being too tough on the young men. Jerry should really be against berating players after that particular incident. Plus, Bart only played one season under Coach Kill, and he still shows some jerk tendencies with the Jets, so I'm not sure if Jerry actually "saved" him. Nevertheless, Barker is so dramatic for posting that letter.

In MN - Barker is getting an interview on local TV station tonight (was the promo teaser after Sunday night football). I have Gopher season tickets (went to the real U of M but my daughter loves football) so have followed the team pretty close. I am sure Barker is exaggerating some but his story is consistent with what I have seen publicly from Kill and his staff the last two years. Lots of talk about how soft and untalented the players were / are (he publicly stated he had more talent and thougher players at UNI multiple times) and made public commitments to making the kids tough over and over again. Also had players who were "too soft" wear pink jerseys when he first got there. Think he discontinued that after a while. Anyways, for anyone who is just assuming Barker is making this all up because he sounds whiny (which he admittedly does), I encourage you to go through some of Jerry's press conference transcripts, especially from last year.

Kids are much different these days, and it's mostly NOT good. 

There was something about the old days in terms of responses to an authority figure. One - in an age when sports medicine is so advanced, techniques for warmup and post-workout recovery is so high, yet athletes don't seem to want to put the time in doing it right. they're too damn worried about the latest video game, who's tweeting what, and the bs that goes with life these days. 

Two - injured athletes in general, don't approach rehab work the same way they do training. The best do, but most use it as an opportunity to slack. I've watched injured athletes skip rehab sessions, not fully stretch, ignore warnings, and even goof around and work the injured areas in non-workout activities, only to watch them complain about it later. I adopted a simple policy this year - if you skipped going to the trainers room before school for rehab (we have 3 certified AT's on campus), you're healthy enough to practice without restrictions. This generation thinks because they can google stuff that they are suddenly full of wisdom. Forget the fact that most of them don't actually do much research, but even when they do, that means they have information. They can't synthesize, analyze or evaluate worth anything and might be a generation dumber than any other in time. 

Three - everyone always says they work hard and are dedicated. Well, I started to hear that too much by athletes skipping rehab, skipping practices, eating poorly, etc. So I've put together a list of "What you'll need to do when you say, 'I want to get better'". This list is quite exhaustive, but it embodies the person who really means "I want to get better". That phrase is as trite and overused as "I love you". Okay, show me. I've adapted it to the classroom as well. Most athletes won't do half of what's on the list, so It's a good reminder of what they really need to do. 

Four - coddled. As a teacher/coach, these kids are the weakest and laziest I could imagine. They all think they are good because they are told that and they have the participation ribbons to show it. I had one of my senior athletes tell me in a written post-race evaluation that they were proud of their last performance because, even though they missed their PR by over 2 minutes, they fought hard on the course and attacked the tough parts, oh and finally beat a teammate that they never beat before in a race, but beat regularly in practice. Great, because there is nothing more that I want then you being happy with a horrible race performance and focusing on finishing ahead of teammates. 

I don't know Jerry Kill, and he might be an ass, but honestly, I know too many of these athletes today are spoiled, coddled, and their comments should be viewed with MASSIVE amounts of skepticism. My high school coach in one of my sports was a jerk. And yet I made sure that I ran for my teammates and myself, and I learned to deal with it. My parents supported me, but never offered to get involved. I confronted my jerk coach, and he listened, he made some changes, even though much of the damage was done, but we handled it like two adults.

Maybe that's the lesson here. Sack up, confront Coach Kill and deal with it. Great job quitting on your teammates. And then publicly crying about it during the season, not waiting until the season was over. Great way to rip your team apart.

Two words for a kid like that: Selfish d-bag.  

The kid is a walk-on and is dominating their receiving stats, with 30 catches for 577 yards and 7 TDs.  The next best guy on the team has 19 catches for 256 yards and 2TDs.

So, you have a walk-on that is your clear #1 receiver and you won't give him a scholarship.  That is douchebag move #1.   The rest of the stuff is all conjecture because we don't know who said what, but I'm inclined to believe the kid, because IMO any coach that wasn't a total douchebag would have already given this kid a scholarship.

It sounds like Kill is mad that this walk-on is a way better receiver than all the guys he recruited.

This isn't my primary thought when reading his post or this thread but since the subject's been raised: if this hurts Minnesota's recruiting, as some have speculated...

...how would we know?

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(Or, less snarkily, is it possible that stuff like this is responsible for the fact that they barely even have a recruiting class?)